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Recent progress of Sn–Ag–Cu lead-free solders bearing alloy elements and nanoparticles in electronic packaging

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Abstract

Sn–Ag–Cu lead-free solders, containing alloy elements and nanoparticles, have been extensively investigated. With the extensive prevalence of 3D IC package, a major concern of Sn–Ag–Cu based solders today is continuously focused on extending service life of solder bonding formed between solders and substrates. The critical issues and improvements on Sn–Ag–Cu solders bearing alloys and nanoparticles are outlined and evaluated in this review. It can be summarized that appropriate content of certain alloys or nanoparticles addition to Sn–Ag–Cu solder is possible to tailor the solder properties, such as the melting and solidification behaviors, oxidation resistance, wettability, (interfacial) microstructure, and mechanical properties. Worthy of note is that reliability issues such as creep behavior, thermomechanical fatigue, electromigration, thermomigration and Sn whisker were briefly discussed and analyzed to lay down a solid foundation for the future development of 3D IC technology.

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Acknowledgments

The Project (JSAWT-14-04) was supported by the Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding Technology of Jiangsu Province, China. This work was also supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and the Foundation of Graduate Innovation Center in NUAA (Foundation No. kfjj20150604) and this work was also supported by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD).

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  1. College of Materials Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, People’s Republic of China

    Jie Wu, Song-bai Xue, Jing-wen Wang, Shuang Liu, Yi-long Han & Liu-jue Wang

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  1. Jie Wu
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Correspondence to Song-bai Xue.

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Wu, J., Xue, Sb., Wang, Jw. et al. Recent progress of Sn–Ag–Cu lead-free solders bearing alloy elements and nanoparticles in electronic packaging. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 27, 12729–12763 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-016-5407-3

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